waggie

I had a similar situation:

Registering for a connections or meet and greet/ connections/meet and mingle party.

I emailed them to find out why I couldn't register for a party and this is the reply:

Right now there is a problem with registering for the connections party on Celebrity's website. We have made them aware of the issue. I apologize that you are having this trouble, You could send Celebrity a note at: connections@celebrity.com to see if they can manually register you

If you have not registered by the time you sail, please check with guest relations on board to ensure that you are added to the party invitation list

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this causes. I do hope you have a wonderful cruise

Worth a try?

Thank you EM - I am so grateful for the help from fellow cruisers

Baltic in August 2018 here we come!!

Waggie

Thank you so much Phil. We have had 6300 on Eclipse some years ago and really enjoyed the quiet area and long walks everywhere to 'keep fit' that the chance of a similar cabin plus larger balcony was an obvious choice - until I found that photo!!

I don't suppose you have any pictures of the balcony?

Thanks again,

Waggie

Can anyone advise me? I am looking at Silhouette 6305 which has a good size balcony, but am concerned that there is a large white metal overhang which would make the balcony very dark.

I have looked at Library Lady's excellent spreadsheet but would welcome some guidance from anyone that has had that cabin.

Thank you!

Waggie

We have just returned from Celebrity Constellation Thailand and Vietnam. We had a wonderful day in HCMC with Dung Zoom. He was very straightforward to deal with via email and paypal. We were a group of 10 and the minivan was very comfortable, he is knowledgeable and clearly very proud of his home country. The tour gave a good overview of the city and we enjoyed a coffee at Rex Hotel and lunch at Pho - to give an idea of the planning he did - he called ahead to the 2 places and they were ready for us - useful on a busy schedule!

I would recommend him highly -try to ignore the earlier poor reviews - he does all tours himself now, is a generous host and is a pleasure to spend the day with.

Thank you Bertrande, this has been a joy to read - I too cannot wait until we join the ship on Sunday 19th.

grprk02 - we will wave from 7208!

Waggie

Hi Dave

We are on the same cruise - have you joined the roll call?

I am sure you will get several different responses, but this is what we are doing!

A lot will depend on your planned activities and your wish to obtain currencies/carry them around ahead of your trip.

We are doing tours with others from the roll call and all our tours are to be paid in US dollars, so just a small amount of local currency should cover the incidentals - drinks, tips etc.

1.We are taking some Singapore dollars and they can be used in Brunei too

2.Also taking some Thai Baht

3. Vietnam - US dollars for tours and most things, but maybe find an ATM if you plan to spend small amounts as above.( £1 sterling is today 28,404.28 VDong- I will feel like a millionaire for the day!)

Waggie

We enjoyed our time in Flam in 2013. The ship docks very close to the station, village centre and shops (which i thought surprisingly good value for warm jackets).

There was a mini train which took a nice ride around the village, past farms, waterfalls and houses and that gave us a flavour of the area.

I have tried to upload a photo of the area taken from our balcony - I hope it works!

JB is offering excellent advice as usual. We have done more research for our Asia cruise tours than ever to avoid some of the issues he raises.

We are on Constellation this February and are taking the ship transport to Bangkok ( currently £37 UK)- we do mainly roll call and private tours but this felt safer because of the distance etc.. Celebrity are also offering a 2 day deal (currently £56 UK) so that you can stay overnight but still be sure of getting back in plenty of time for sail. It drops off at a large shopping mall and I will be happy to report back when we return.

Have you joined the roll call for your cruise?

You should find a link on the main boards page.

You will find this an enormous help - you can get to know some of your fellow cruisers, read about the plans other people have made and maybe, join some of their tours.

Enjoy!

Oops! I see that someone else has guided you there!

Thank you all for such helpful information.

I think that to do it justice we need to join a tour for that one day and then plan a land tour at a later date with more time to explore.

Waggie

Thanks Tercar,

How long was the taxi ride to the city?

I wonder if we can take the ship transport and then find a taxi in Saigon to show us around - any ideas?

Waggie

I am considering my options for a day in Saigon in February 2017:

1. Ship transport only and then diy sightseeing in the city

2. Joining a tour being planned on the roll call

Can anyone offer information on independent sightseeing?

I have read that hop-on buses - a usual favourite of mine, are not well organised in Saigon.

Has anyone experience or costings for a private tour or taxi for the day?

Thank you in anticipation,

Waggie

Please don't let this become another "who,where,how much I tipped" thread

Thank you Tumbletot, interesting!

If thee is a waiting list for that particular tour and you cancel, the chances are that you would go to the bottom of the list and miss out. If it was me I would use OBC and go direct to shore excursions immediately after boarding. Unless this is a particularly popular tour with little options of private excursions I would be surprised if it was booked out on embarkation day

Have I understood?

I have already booked 2 excursions well in advance of the cruise. Are you saying that I can go to Shore excursions, ask if there is availability, then cancel my current booking and book again?

Thank you Rita,

I will take a look at the website.

We are taking the Celebrity "Bangkok on your own" trip to take advantage of the coach but do independent sightseeing while there as we have visited before and would like to re-trace our steps. I agree - we will monitor the situation.

The second day we hope to visit Pattaya either by independent taxi or through a local agent.

Ruth

Thanks JB,

We also do DIY which can take months of planning - half the fun of travelling for me! For many of these I have formed small groups from roll calls and they have been a wonderful way of seeing places, and meeting new people.

For Asia it seems that most tour providers want hefty deposits, so I am not too keen to go that route.

I have been in touch with a guy - I took the details from other roll calls and reviews were favourable, but it was quite pricey for two. I will see if we can find another couple to join us, otherwise I will heed your advice about taxis at the port.

Thanks again,

Ruth

John,We will be on Constellation in February and overnight docked for Bangkok. We will be going to Bangkok on day 1 and staying more local on day 2.

I had thought of a trip to Pattaya, Sanctuary, Gardens etc.

Can you recommend a tour/company?

Thanks,

Ruth

We have booked Dung Pham for our February cruise based on both the reviews here and his professional responses to emails.

I am sure we will not be disappointed!

We have four hours to wait at marina Bay terminal for our planned transfer to Changi. Is there really nothing to do there - no cafes, no shops etc as their website makes no mention of these. Wondering whether to try to rearrange our transfer.

Would it be out of the question to see if Etihad have a day flight?Or leave the ship the evening before -whatever you decide pace yourselves well as it is a long day.

And as you say.......it was the cabin you chose that has now been taken from you without explanation. I agree with all the positive points from cc posters here, but that explanation will help you decide what you want/can do. Here's hoping you have a wonderful time onboard.

Thanks again

Ruth

Thanks from me too! We have 7208 for our -Asia cruise in February. The pictures of the balcony are great. Is the cabin the standard layout? Do you any photos? We have never had concierge before -is there much more space on m class?

Hi,

 

I know this question has probably been asked before but I can't find a thread that specifically relates to this scenario.

 

Basically we booked our cruise (27th November, Millennium, Far East) quite some time ago. It had some pretty nice extras (credit & drinks) and we booked a FV room. I think the price ended up as somewhere in the region of about £3400 when we paid gratuities.

 

I looked on this week and similar rooms are on sale at £600-800 cheaper (it may have changed since) and I just wondered if anybody has had any luck trying to get their cruise reduced in similar circumstances before?

 

I'm aware we don't have the same guarantees as UK passengers and I didn't book via a TA, however some people have said that they've managed to get an improved deal just by trying. I won't lose sleep if we don't get anything as I was happy with the price at the time, but as I could cancel and re-book and still save money I didn't know if it was worth asking them.

 

The thing in their favour appears to be the drinks package from what I can see as I haven't seen it offered in recent deals.

I have just tried to mock book a FV and there are several available. Interesting since there are very few 'standard' balcony cabins available. The cost for cruise only is showing as £2578. I cannot see what perks if any, so cannot see if the deal would be worth you trying for. You say that you didn't use a TA, so did you book direct with celebrity? Also, as other people have said you do have to consider the deposit loss if you do not have Captains Club status. It is worth asking the questions, and let us know how you get on.